Could this hormone be the ‘Holy Grail’ of hair loss?
A novel clinical trial has started in Melbourne to find out whether prolactin offers a permanent cure for baldness.
The trial is led by Professor Rod Sinclair, a world expert on hair loss and Dermatology Republic Editor and patients are currently being recruited.
It is open to males and females (not pregnant or breastfeeding) with patterned hair loss and while in the early stages the trial will only be available in Melbourne, additional phases will be open to residents of other states and territories.
“It’s preliminary at this stage but it’s such a novel concept – we could actually have a cure,” Professor Sinclair said.
“It certainly seems to be pretty straightforward.”
Professor Sinclair said many women experienced hair loss after childbirth.
“There are two things that happen to a woman’s hair during and after pregnancy. Hair thickens up during pregnancy and they often lose a lot after childbirth,” he said.
“We’ve never really understood that, but it may well be related to prolactin. We know from other mammals, that prolactin regulates seasonal moulting.
“So we’ve been able to show very good correlation between prolactin levels and seasonal moulting.”
Another key point was that while prolactin was generally considered to be only made in the pituitary gland in the brain, there was actually manufacture of prolactin in hair follicles and prolactin receptors in hair follicles.
As part of this phase of the trial the researchers are looking for people with a certain degree of hair loss, such as a bald spot on the crownof the head; as well as people who haven’t tried any treatment before and who don’t have any diseases that can affect prolactin levels.
“Prolactin levels go up and down, certain antidepressants affect prolactin levels and the contraceptive pill can affect prolactin levels as well as a variety of other things,” Professor Sinclair said.
“So there’s quite a few exclusion criteria, but on the whole, it should be pretty straightforward.”
Patients in this phase of the trial will be given a standard dose of prolactin every two weeks for six months, followed by an observation phase. If the results are positive, he said they planned to move to the next phase with larger numbers of people.
“We think it could reverse the [balding] process, that’s the theory at this stage, we just have to wait and see,” he said.
“There’s a couple of very good animal models for patterned hair loss and what they’ve seen in those is continued and substantial hair growth, up to four years after, which is as long as they’ve studied it for.”
Professor Sinclair warned that the treatment might not be suitable for all patients with hair loss, but they would have to wait and see how the trial progressed. He is excited about the prospect of it being a success.
“It’s the Holy Grail everyone’s been looking for,” he said.
While no research or results will be presented, the trial is no doubt going to be a hot topic at the 12th World Congress for Hair Research, to be held in Melbourne in November.
The congress will be chaired by Professor Sinclair and is expected to attract delegates from around the world. It will be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from 18-22 November. Early bird registration closes on 5 October.
The keynote speakers already announced will include Prof Michael Archer, Professor Steven Kossard, Professor Sinclair, Professor Ralf Paus, Professor Angela Christiano, Professor Yuliya Ovcharenko, Professor Hironobu Fujiwara and Dr George Costarelis.
“Under non-covid times we would probably see about 1000 people at this congress but this year we’re probably looking at about 500, because of covid,” Professor Sinclair said.
“But it is going to be a fantastic congress with some excellent research and really interesting international speakers.”
For more information see hair2022.org
